“In obedience to the feeling of reality, we shall insist that, in the analysis of propositions, nothing "unreal" is to be admitted. But, after all, if there is nothing unreal, how, it may be asked, could we admit anything unreal? The reply is that, in dealing with propositions, we are dealing in the first instance with symbols, and if we attribute significance to groups of symbols which have no significance, we shall fall into the error of admitting unrealities, in the only sense in which this is possible, namely, as objects described.”

— Bertrand Russell

Source: 1910s, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), Ch. 16: Descriptions

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Bertrand Russell 562

logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

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Bertrand Russell 562

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